iLrn/Blackboard Learn Linking for Instructors
(existing users of iLrn)
This document is designed for Instructors who have previously used iLrn and so have an existing iLrn account. An
Instructor creates an iLrn course that includes a number of sections and teaches all of the courses him/herself. Other
how-to documents and videos for coordinators, instructors and students and contact information for technical support
issues are available at solutions.cengage.com/iLrn/training-support.
1. Log in to Blackboard Learn. If you do not know your Blackboard Learn login or password, please contact your
institution’s Blackboard Administrator.
2. Select the Blackboard Learn Course you want to link to iLrn.
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3. Click on the Content Tab (red circle). Then on the Partner Content Drop down menu (blue circle), select Commercial
Content (green circle). If your menu doesn’t include a Content tab, enter a Content Area to start the process. If you have
questions about setting up your Blackboard Learn menu or about creating Content Areas, please contact your campus
Blackboard Administrator.
4. From the carousel, select Cengage Learning iLrn. You may have to click on the left/right arrows (blue circle) to find it.
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5. Depending on your institution’s Blackboard setting, you may see a User Privacy Information Page. If so, please select
“I agree to share…”. If you do not agree to share, linking will still occur, but some information will not be able to be
transferred from one system to the other.
6. On the iLrn login page, enter your iLrn login information..
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7. When you have logged in, you will be presented with a list of iLrn Classes that are available for linking. If you link,
select ONLY the iLrn Class that corresponds to the Blackboard Course you selected in Step 2 above. On this screen, you
also have the option to create a new course or to go to your workstation by following the appropriate links.
If you select create a new course, once you create the new course and click Done when you have finished creating the
appropriate classes, you will be brought back to this page to make the link.
8. A successful link will be indicated by the following screen. Click Return to Blackboard.
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9. Now that you have created the link between your iLrn account and your Blackboard account, you have to select the
content links that students will see in their Blackboard Course. The selection of these links should be guided by how you
intend to have the grades from the activities represented in the Blackboard Gradebook.
NOTE: The following steps will have to be completed by all instructors in their own Blackboard accounts for each
section once they have linked their iLrn classes and Blackboard Courses. Shorter, specific how-to documents are
available from your LC or DSC for users who do not have iLrn course/class-creation responsibilities.
NOTE: All of the book links and chapter links take students to the Assignment Calendar in iLrn. If there are
assignments with due dates, links will take the students to the View by date view. If not, links will take students to
View by chapter view.
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If you want one composite grade per book (i.e., textbook, student activities manual), click on Book links (red).
If you want each chapter’s grades to be represented separately, click on Chapter links (blue).
The Book links – navigation only option allows you to create a link to a book without creating a Gradebook
column (green).
In addition, select iLrn Workstation for ease of access to the instructor interface with iLrn to be able to make
changes to your course configuration (yellow).
Best Practice
If you want the grades in the
Blackboard Gradebook at the chapter
level, but want to make the Student
View as clean as possible, you can set
up your course as the following:
1. Click Book links – navigation only and
select one of the links from the
following page.
2. Click the Chapter links and select
appropriate chapter materials for your
course.
3. Select the iLrn Workstation.
4. On your Blackboard Learn Content
page, hide the links to the Chapters
from the students. This way, students
will only see one link, which takes them
directly to the iLrn Assignment
Calendar, but you will have chapterlevel grades in the gradebook.
If you have questions about how to
manage the student view, contact your
campus Blackboard administrator.
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Book link screen – If you will assign activities out of both the Textbook and Student Activities manual, you must select both to
have grade columns in the Gradebook. NOTE: The number of points shown reflects the default in iLrn that all activities for both
book are assigned. These points will change once you have gone into iLrn and selected the activities to assign.
Chapter link screen – If you will assign activities out of both the Textbook and Student Activities Manual, you must select both
for EACH CHAPTER to have grade columns in the Gradebook. Depending on the size of your screen, you may have to scroll down
to see the eSAM links. Two things to note: 1. There may be multiple pages of links. Later chapters in a text will not appear on the
first screen; 2. The number of points shown reflects the default in iLrn that all activities for both books are assigned. These
points will change once you have gone into iLrn and selected the activities to assign.
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Book links – navigation only screen – Selecting one of these links provides a link to the Assignment Calendar for
students without creating a column in the Blackboard Gradebook. You would not need to select both links, as
they both navigate to the Assignment Calendar in the student interface.
iLrn Workstation screen – Note that this is different from the previous screens because it is adding, by default, one
specific link to the Content folder (or other Content Area you have determined previously). If you have questions about
the Destination Folder or Category, please contact your campus Blackboard Administrator.
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10. Once you have selected the content from one of the preceding screens to add to your course, click the Submit
button, which will take you to the Add Cengage Learning iLrn content page. Here you can select the destination folder
and the category. The default will place the links into the Content Folder. If you have questions about the Destination
Folder or Category, please contact your campus Blackboard Administrator.
11. When you click submit, you will see your Content Folder, with the green banner indicating that the content has been
successfully added.
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12. If you wish to add other content, click on the Partner Content Dropdown menu, and select Commercial Content.
Then click on the linked course (red circle), which will return you to the Add Cengage Learning iLrn Content page (see
step 9 above).
13. Once you have added all of the content appropriate to your course, your Blackboard Content folder will look
something like the following.
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14. In the Content Folder, you can now reorder the links and edit the links.
15. By clicking Edit, you are able to rename the link, rewrite the description, and opt whether or not students view the
links. By hiding the links you do not change the gradebook entries. For more information about managing your Content
Folder and how it is viewed, contact your campus Blackboard Administrator.
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16. Your course is now ready for students to enroll and link their own iLrn accounts.
17. When you click Grade CenterFull Grade Center, you will see the students enrolled in your Blackboard Learn course
and their scores. The default is that grades will be delivered through the Partner Cloud every 30 minutes. However, your
campus Blackboard Administrator may have adjusted that interval. See the guide on using Commercial Content Tools to
learn how to manually sync grades. For more information about managing the Blackboard Gradebook, contact your
campus Blackboard Administrator.
18. By viewing the Roster within Commercial Content Tools, you will see a full roster of your students and will be able to
tell whether or not they have linked their iLrn Classes and Blackboard Learn Courses. See your campus Blackboard
Administrator or read the Guide on Commercial Content Tools to learn to view. In the below example, Jenny Williams,
Gustav Garzon and Anthony Price have linked their courses. The other students have not.
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19. If you need to unlink your iLrn account from your Blackboard account, you can do so from the iLrn Profile Page. Click
on the Profile link (red circle), visible on any page within iLrn, and click the Unlink from Blackboard account checkbox
(green circle). Then click Save changes. NOTE: Though you have unlinked the accounts, the items placed in the
Blackboard Learn Content Areas and Grade Center will remain, though they will no longer update. These would need to
be removed manually within Blackboard Learn, if desired. If you have questions about managing the Blackboard Learn
Grade Center, please contact your campus Blackboard Administrator.
Unlinking can also be accomplished at the Class level, via the Class Info page in iLrn.
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20. Thank you for using iLrn and Blackboard. Have a wonderful semester!
If you have feedback about the iLrn/Blackboard Learn integration or other aspects of iLrn, please send it to
ilrnfeedback@cengage.com
Note that this is not a support site, and it may take up to five business days for you to receive a response.
Version date: 7/28/2014
The latest version of this document and a variety of other resources can be found at
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